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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2017)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017 Founded in 1873 HEIDI WRIGHT, Interim Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Editor JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers SOUTHERN EXPOSURE 10 years ago this week — 2007 Staff at the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park and The Daily Astorian held a book signing Saturday. But, they received more than they bargained for. They produced the catalyst for a celebration of community and the spirit to rebuild what a fire had destroyed. People involved in the reconstruction of the Fort Clatsop replica — following its fire — took advantage of a chance to gather again and share memories of what they’d created. Rather than simply a historical record and anthology of news reports, the book became a sort of yearbook for people attending the book signing. People of all ages passed copies of “Fort Clatsop: Rebuilding an Icon” back and forth for signatures to memorialize their efforts in restoring the fort to its current condition. The battle lines are drawn for the next two years of Colum- bia River salmon fishing seasons, which are up for review by Oregon and Washington state fish and wildlife commissions. Tensions are so thick between the sport and commercial gill- net fishing industries — which have to split the highly coveted allocation of spring Chinook salmon — the state has called in a professional mediator to guide negotiations leading up to the February decision on how to divvy up the valuable species. A new group, the Coastal Conservation Association, is expected to add its political clout to the recreational fish- ing industry’s fight for more fish this year. Gillnetters say the CCA’s long-term aim is to get commercial fishers banned from mainstem Columbia River salmon fishery. 50 years ago — 1967 The Daily Astorian/File Treasure hunter Tony Mareno returned to the Manzanita beach recently to prepare the digging area for winter. Recent digging re- vealed a ring of rocks which Mareno believes were placed around the site of the buried Neahkahnie treasure chest. Northwest Aluminum company officials in New York could not be reached today for comment on statements by Gov. Thomas McCall this week that the company must come up with “foolproof” anti-polution plans for its proposed $140 million Warrenton plant, “or draw a State Sanitary Authority goose egg.” However, local people who have been closest to Northwest Aluminum all noted that the company has given assurance that it would provide the best available air and water pollution control program. The refrigerated freighter Har Ramon, first vessel flying the flag of Israel to visit Astoria, was here Sunday discharging 1,000 tons of frozen tuna from Shimizu, Japan. The Har Ramon normally operates in the banana trade, carrying fruit from Central and South America to European ports and sometimes bringing automobiles back again. Sometimes it is chartered for other voyages, such as the present one. Richard F. Corlett, a Battelle Institute engineer, said here Thursday Oregon should develop a plan for locating clusters of nuclear electrical generating plants on the oceanfront instead of on rivers. 75 years ago — 1942 At least five Astoria church pastors have expressed their opinions on the war song “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammu- nition,” over which a controversy was created last week by con- demnation of the song by Seattle clerics. The clerics of Asto- ria are widely divergent in their views of whether or not, as claimed by one Seattle pastor, the song is a “jazz tune of blas- phemy against Christ and the church.” “Wartime rationing has just started,” Neil Morfitt, chairman of the Clat- sop County civilian defense, told members of the Woman’s Club Tuesday in a talk which was part of the “patriotic” program of the afternoon. Morfitt declared that shortage ahead would include many items of the daily diet. He said that women will have to learn to use substitutes for common consumers’ commodities and that they should accept these shortages cheerfully. An arts center thrives in Manzanita By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian A fter a 25-year career in bank marketing, most recently in executive management, Vera Wildauer moved to Manzanita full time in 2006. In 2008, she co-founded the Manzanita Writers’ Series, bringing regional authors to the coast for read- ings and workshops and encouraging local writers to share their work during open mic. In 2009, Wildauer joined the Hoffman Center board of directors, working to expand the center’s mar- keting efforts and managed the cen- ter’s blog site. She also generated press releases and flyers for literary and other events. She served as pres- ident beginning in 2014. Her board experience includes eight years with a mental health non- profit in Everett, Washington, where she served as board president for four years. In 2012, she co-founded the North Coast Squid, a journal of local writing and art, to further develop the writing community in north Til- lamook County. She lives with her husband and cat in what had been her family’s beach house since 1975. Q: Who were the Hoffmans? Were they the inspiration for the center? A: Oh, yes. Lloyd Hoffman was a painter. And Myrtle Hoffman was a musician. They were extremely welcoming to artists of all sorts. Q: Did they live here full time? A: Yes, for many years. Their house was across the street from where we are now. They had a trust specifically to create a cultural center. Their house really wasn’t a very good venue, so in 2007 the founding board bought this building, which was kind of like an antiques mall. Over the years it evolved and we refurbished it, making it more suit- able for the kinds of programming we do. Q: Did you have a model for the arts center when you started? A: I think it was definitely orig- inal from the start. The first board went around and looked at a few arts centers and also had commu- nity meetings. As time has gone on, we’ve really developed the pro- gramming out of the interests of the community. Q: What were the first activities? A: The clay program was started in 2004 when they got a kiln, and it’s evolved a lot since. The clay stu- dio is in existence because there is a strong group of people who are focused and excited about that. In fact, we are the only publicly acces- sible clay studio between Astoria down to Lincoln City. Q: Tell me about the center’s organization. A: We have a nine-member board composed of local community members. Q: Do you have any paid staff? A: No. We have contract employ- ees — a bookkeeper and a cleaning service. Basically all the program staff and the board are unpaid. Q: What is your title? A: I am board president. My ori- gin is through the Manzanita Writ- ers’ Series. Kathie Hightower and I started that in 2008. I write poetry and short fiction. Q: What type of programs do you bring in for writers? A: The main thing is the writers’ series. We bring in authors. Usually Photos by R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Nancy Webster enjoys pottery classes at the Hoffman Center. Encaustic artwork in the lobby at the Hoffman Center. Vera Wildauer, president of the Hoffman Center board of directors. those folks do a workshop of some sort, with some sort of craft element or publishing. Q: Are there a lot of writers in town? A: Yes, all levels. And Gary Seelig is really working the music scene. Q: There seem to be a lot of artistic people in Manzanita. A: It’s a historical legacy. There always was. Manzanita was an enclave for writers and artists of all sorts, a place to get away. In fact, several of our featured authors ended up moving here. Q: So they come in, give a lec- ture and then they go back and decide they want to settle here full time? A: Yes, at least as second-home owners and frequent visitors. We are more a retirement-age kind of place. Q: Are younger artists coming here as well? A: The clay studio has attracted a younger set, which is cool. We just had young adult author April Henry spend a full day at the (Til- lamook) middle school and high school talking about writing and what inspired her. Another part of our writing program is the publi- cation of the North Coast Squid. We have a young writers’ category where we try and encourage young people to submit as well. Q: Sounds like there is no shortage of creative input. A: We probably have 100 vol- unteers for all of the different programs. Q: What are your challenges? A: Well, funding. We are defi- nitely moving toward more stable funding sources, growing our donor base. Q: More stable than what? A: About half of our revenue is earned income — admissions, tui- tion sales and proceeds from gallery sales. But we still have to rely on donations. Q: Do you rent the building out for events? A: We have a lot of meetings here, presentations. The local emer- gency response team meets here. Q: Any new programs? A: Our “Art of Dying” program is going gangbusters. It can be any- thing from green burials to setting your priorities later in life, to setting up a network of people to help you. Certainly everybody is very engaged and interested in making their lives rich with experience. Those kinds of things really help people stay young, vital and active. Q: How important is the Hoff- man Center to the artistic core of Manzanita? A: Well, it’s hugely important — of course I would say that! What we offer is not just people being involved with the arts, but that cre- ative expression that comes from doing things with people. It’s really important to the well-being of the community. Q: Is there a downside to this? A: No! This is a happy spot. Q: Do you get people from out- side of the area? A: Typically we get people from Astoria down to Pacific City. For our writers’ workshop we got two people from Alabama. They looked online and found two workshops. There was one here and one in Pennsylva- nia, and they decided to come here. R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South County reporter and editor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.